A parent at Dallas Elementary in Kamloops whose son has COVID-19 is wondering why layers of protection weren’t kept in place this year at B.C. schools.
The man named John says he received a letter on Sunday saying his son might have been exposed at school, and his son then tested positive yesterday. He says five kids in his son’s class have tested positive for COVID-19 and, based on conversations with other parents, between 13 and 15 kids in the school had tested positive as of this afternoon.
John worries the elementary school may have to temporarily close if the rate of infection continues, similar to what has happened in schools elsewhere in B.C.
He also points out health officials have maintained the virus is spreading mostly among the unvaccinated, saying as recently as this week that B.C. is “in a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
“And guess who the unvaccinated are? They’re aged five and six, all the way to 12. And that’s basically your elementary schools from kindergarten to grade seven, and that’s what’s blowing up right now across this province.”
New provincial data released yesterday shows COVID-19 cases have jumped since the school year started for kids aged five to 11 – from between 15-20 cases per 100,000 residents to now 25-30.
John points out kids between Kindergarten and grade seven are no longer in cohorts, and have no staggered schedules or staggered recesses, while the Delta variant spreads rapidly.
He says he and many other parents are lobbying to bring back restrictions that were in place last year for public schools, while cases are high are most kids cannot yet be vaccinated.
“It was working. And the fact we didn’t start there to begin with… and the frustrating thing is, we’re probably at the 10 yard line. There could be a vaccine for the kids by Christmas. We just had to get through the next two-to-three months.”
Pfizer said on Tuesday it had submitted trial data for using vaccines in children aged 5-to-11.
Meanwhile, John also brought up the government decision to not report school exposures to the general public, which has been reversed as of this week. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the goal was to reduce anxiety of the virus in schools, which John says has been counter-productive.
“That is so condescending. You took away the decision from us at a parent. If I knew there was an exposure risk… I would’ve pulled our little guy from school, and allowed me to make that decision. But we’ve put this false sense of security in the school board and the school system, and it’s failed us miserably.”
As of this afternoon, there are now seven active COVID-19 exposures reported in schools in the Kamloops area, and 41 in schools within Interior Health. A full list of schools affected, with exposure dates, can be found here.
